Wedding guests find light bulb spy camera in Auckland rental home

Sunday, 17 February 2019

Wedding photographer Michal Kouk says the light bulb was making a buzzing sound and was hanging at a weird angle.

An Auckland bridesmaid and a wedding photographer were 'shocked' to discover a light bulb in a West Auckland rental home was actually a hidden camera.

Photographer Michael Kouk said he visited a bridal party at a home in Taupaki, West Auckland, on Saturday morning.

Kouk had come to take photos of the bridal party when he and a bridesmaid noticed an 'odd' light bulb that had a black dot in the middle of it, he said.

'It was hanging in the ceiling at a weird angle,' Kouk said.

The 'light bulb' was in the centre of the open dining room and connected living room, he said.

'It looked really odd and I could hear a little buzzing sound.'

The bridesmaid unscrewed the light bulb and the pair were 'pretty shocked' and 'angry' to discover that it had a camera inside, he said.

'Our jaws dropped - we were pretty angry because it's invading our privacy.'

Kouk posted about the incident on Facebook, stating that the light bulb was a 'Spy 360 Degree Camera'.

The rental home, featured on booking.com, is advertised on the website as 'one of the top-rated locations' in the area.

However, when Kouk arrived to take photos of the bridal party, the place was 'quite different' to its online images and was 'not very clean', he said.

Kouk believed one of the bridesmaids had made a report to police.

A police spokeswoman said there had been no record of a complaint about this incident on Sunday afternoon.

Booking.com has been approached for comment.